Limitless
by TonyaStark94
Summary: Elise Newton is a resident on the planet Minaria, and a Nova Corps trainee drop out. Her job is to protect Vesper Watts no matter what, for she is the galaxy's Purity. Elise is an unstoppable force until one day she loses it all. She hasn't been the same since. A threat has been made to Vesper and the Nova Corps are called. Instead of a fleet they get the Guardians of the Galaxy.
1. Prologue

It was quiet throughout the room. Sunlight was streaming through the window from outside making the illusion that the world was peaceful. A girl with thick black hair laid down in her bed reading a letter from one of her dear friends. She carefully examined every curve of each letter with her light blue eyes.

She sighed and let the paper drop to the wooden floor. Rajah, her saber toothed snow leopard, raised her head and narrowed her eyes on the paper that had fallen effortlessly to the floor. "Elise!" Her mother called for her. There was a clicking sound and her mother had entered the room.

"Elise, honey, it's time to go." Her mother said in a soft voice, peering in from the crack of her door. Jane saw the restlessness in her daughters eyes, the dark circles forming under them, the permanent frown that was placed upon her lips. She had been this way ever since the incident that had forced her to drop out of the Nova Corps training class.

The incident that forced Elise to move back in with her parents and to be under careful watch at all times. She hadn't been the same since. Before she was impulsive and open minded but now, she's timid and scarred. Elise sighed once more before tossing aside the blankets and sitting up. She carefully grabbed both her legs, numb from the accident and put them at the side of her bed.

Jane quickly brought the green wheelchair from the other side of the room and watched as her daughter struggled to get in it. She refused help from anyone if offered. Several minutes later, Jane was clipping Elise's dark hair back into an elegant bun, that matched her formal, long, coral gown.

Jane crouched down beside her and grabbed her hand. "Sweetie, I know it's been hard but everyone is worried about you, you're taking a long time to recover, maybe you should go and see a healer." Jane proposed looking into her daughters expressionless eyes that began to water. "Alright. I'll go." Elise agreed before clenching her hands together.

"You're sister is going to be surprised to see you at her graduation ceremony." Jane whispered excitedly before wheeling her out of the room. Outside the auditorium a group of close family and friends had gathered to greet Jane and her infamous daughter.

Elise looked around at her surroundings, they were on Xandar for her sisters graduation and had been staying at a small condominium Nova Prime had established for her since she and her counter part Vesper had saved their world a dozen times over. People of strange colors, hairstyles, and clothes gathered from all around towards the auditorium.

"Elise!" A little girl with pig tails jumped onto her lap, the girls little brother clinging to the side of the chair. "Anya. Jackson." She tried to sound excited to see her two cousins but it was hard for her, it had been months since the last time she's smiled. Even longer since the last time she could sleep without having nightmares of the incident.

A light touch of a hand was on her shoulder, it was small, harmless, familiar. She glanced up to see Vesper, her counter part. Vesper crouched down to the side of the wheelchair where the small children were playing.

"Anya. Jackson. Maybe you should go inside the auditorium and find your parents for us." Vesper mused slightly smiling at the children, who in turn ran up the steep steps of the building. "How're you holding up?" Vesper asked as she stroked Elise's bangs. "I'm ok." Elise replied short with a monotone voice.

Vesper moved behind her and grabbed hold of the wheelchair and began wheeling her towards the handicapped entrance. "Have you…been able to get feeling back?" Vesper wondered, trying to make small talk.

"No. And the nightmares won't stop either. Ever since Bageer I've been afraid to do a lot of things on my own, I can't even brush my hair without flinching. I feel weak and useless, and hearing that Madelyn, Percy, and Walker are trying their best to help the world is making me feel like we're not needed anymore Ves," Elise confided in her friend. "Maybe Bageer was right. The world has changed so much in the past two thousand years. I don't think it needs us anymore."

Vesper stopped and leaned down again to face her friend, she examined her lifeless blue eyes like she had since they were born. "You're right," Vesper admitted. "Maybe the universe doesn't need us. But what if some time in the future it does and we're not there to help." Vesper went back to push Elise through the doors of the auditorium, she wheeled her down the red, carpeted slope to the very first row where her father and mother were sitting.

Vesper put the brakes on the wheelchair and sat on the other side of Elise's father and stared up at the stage. "You look beautiful honey." Elise's father, Nessan, commented towards her, Elise nodded her head in acknowledgement. "I'm sure your sister has done you proud in graduating in the advanced course of the Nova Corp program, Elise." The voice of her Uncle Arthur commented from the row behind them.

"She has. I'm surprised she actually wanted to join the Nova Corp." Elise said staring back up at the stage. "Well, when you couldn't finish, Alice tried her best to make it to the top of her class for you. She wants to make you happy." Arthur boasted towards his niece hoping it would cheer her up. But when she didn't look back and instead looked to the palms of her hands he knew he had failed.

The room went dark and a spotlight formed on the Nova Prime. Elise had met her once. _Once_. Out of the countless times that she had saved Minaria, and even tried to join the Nova Corps she had met her once and that was orientation day for training.

She began with a speech about chivalry and peace, followed by a brief history of the Nova Corps, she greeted some honorable guests that were seated on the stage with medals around their necks. They were a group that called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy. Elise wanted to scoff but she felt it rude to since they saved Xandar from Ronan.

Nova Prime then went on to announce the honor roll students. Her sister Alice was twelfth in line to be called up. "Alice Guinevere Newton, honor roll." Nova Prime called up the bubbly girl with curly light brown hair pulled back in a bun, wearing a dark grey graduation robe.

She handed Alice a plaque, shook her hand, took a picture and then Alice was on her way up to the podium. "Um. Hi, everyone. My name is Alice Newton and I'm from Minaria." Alice spoke into the microphone nervously. "It's a great honor, to be receiving this today-" It didn't take long for her to get interrupted. "Isn't your sister the Unix?!" Alice looked into the crowd, slightly baffled. "Um y-yes that's correct. Elise Newton is indeed my sister. But I would like to focus more on-"

"Isn't she supposed to be saving Minaria?"

"Minaria? How about the universe?"

"I haven't seen her in a while! Is she dead? Did we miss something?"

"Can we ask why she wasn't here to protect us from Ronan? She's supposed to help us all! She's our Unix too!"

"What about Vesper?! You know the Purity! Why didn't she help us!"

Alice backed away from the podium as people began yelling at her, screaming questions, demanding answers. Elise could almost feel the daggers shooting at her from all over the room, she knew it was her fault for not overcoming her fear of being defeated to not come to help Xandar.

Vesper stared down at Elise with worried eyes, Jane traded spots with her so she could sit next to Elise in case the auditorium got too messy for her. A man came up to the podium, clenching its sides and glaring at the crowd.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Let's not start a riot in here!" He barked into the microphone. Elise recognized him as one of the people from the Guardians of the Galaxy group. He was tall, with a bulky structure, red hair and facial hair, with teal eyes. "So the Unix was in a bad state to help you out, big whoop. Everyone has bad days but at least we were here to help you." He rambled out.

Elise perked an eyebrow up in question. Was this supposed to help her and make her feel better? And if it was in what way? Elise put her face in her hands in frustration. The crowd had become hushed and the man let Alice go back to the podium. She looked at the crowd as if they were beneath her.

"My sister is only 23 years old. Since the day she was born she was told that she was going to do something great no matter how big the sacrifice. About four or five months ago, she was willing to sacrifice herself to keep a race of people from being wiped out. Since then she's been wheelchair ridden and depressed. Now I know she's in a bad place right now but I know she can get through this in time if she's patient. But for now I promise that I will do the best I can in protecting you." Alice stepped away from the podium and walked off stage, the auditorium was silent even her family was in awe.

Alice walked down the steps and over to the first row were her sister was placed. Everyone kept staring at her, even Nova Prime who hadn't announced the next graduate. Alice stared down at her sister for a while, Elise could see the tears forming in her eyes but Alice didn't let them fall. "I _promise_ I am going to make you proud." Alice swore before running up the incline and out the door.

Elise stared back up at the stage towards Nova Prime who gave her and inconsiderate glare then started to announce the next graduate. Elise's parents scrambled up and after Alice, her aunt, uncle, and cousins followed shortly behind. It was just Vesper and Elise now.

The man that had stopped the crowd from going insane stared down at Elise, an almost sad tint to his face as Elise kept staring up at Nova Prime. She only glanced once to him but kept her eyes glued on the graduates. Only he and Vesper witnessed the single tear that dropped from her eye and strolled down her cheek.


	2. The Threat

The, moist, humid summer air had settled in the Lightfield guard tower. No matter how cool the marble structure of mansion could get, it could never cool down the hotness of the Minarian summer. In a small room in the bottom of the tower, two guards sat uncomfortably in the metal chairs staring into space, avoiding eye contact with one another. They hadn't spoken to each other in about two hours, they say in complete silence after what they had just done. The girl gave in and stared over at the older man. "So..." She started to speak up, but that's when it happened.

Static. That was the first thing that the guards heard from the radio in the past two hours. The older man perched a brow up in confusion at his partner who also gave him a confused look. Curiosity got the better of the younger guard and urged the male guard to answer with a pleading look. "This is Lightfield tower one, come in. Lightfield tower one, come in. Please state your identity." The guard ordered into the large silver plated microphone.

More static. He glanced to his partner with a look of stale boredom. She bit her lip and looked back apologetically. "Maybe it's just a bad frequency?" The female guard suggested, shrugging her shoulders making her partner sigh in frustration. A low, faded voice chanted words from the radio, the man narrowed his eyes at the speaker. This perked both of their interests. The guards leaned in, trying to figure out what the voice was saying.

The male guard started fumbling around with the different colored knobs, trying to make a clear frequency. "The Purity. The girl must be destroyed. The world is out of balance. The Purity will die. The dawning of a new age is upon us." The voice said in an eerie tone. It looped around and repeated itself again, using the same grave tone as before. The recording repeated itself once more before the female guard jumped up almost terrified. "I can't." She huffed out then leapt up and ran out. The man sat there with utter content on just listening to it play over and over again until he figured out what to do with it.

A moment later his partner returned with a tall woman with braided hair and an older woman. The tall woman's guarded grey eyes, scanned the room and found the radio, the source of the threat. They listened to it for about three more times before the older woman spoke. "They're going to kill Vesper? For what purpose?" She wondered towards the tall woman. "I have no idea but, whatever the reason it's still a threat." She growled the proceeded to slam her fists on the desk where the microphone was.

"Put every guard on every perimeter. I want guards in the pivots, nooks and crannies of this establishment. Station two of the higher ranking guards outside of the Purity and Unix's sleeping quarters. Now." She demanded, glaring at the older guard. The two guards saluted the woman and ran out of the room. "Should we leave Elise to handle this?" The older woman asked. "No. She's not ready and you know it." She announced. "Then what'll we do? We can try to fight off whoever it is with all our might but what if they're bigger than us? The only person to protect Vesper is Elise, she's the Unix. It's been like that for two thousand years, we just can't break that." The older woman stated while watching the other woman pace the room.

She leaned against where the stereo was before stating, "We'll call Nova Prime." The older woman's eye were still immensely worried. "And Elise?" The tall woman sighed, she rubbed the back of her neck before calmly stating, "We'll break the news to her in the morning."

The warm rays of sunlight seeped into the large bedroom of the Lightfield mansion. The mansion had been Elise and Vesper's home for most of their lives, ever since they were 6. They had been sent here for the protection of their mentors Serefina and Helen, and for their training to begin. Elise yawned, while stretching as she slowly woke up. She noticed that Rajah was perched by the wooden door, staring out from under it.

"Rajah?" Elise whispered, jumping out of bed alarmed. She could hear the saber cat annoyed purring as she continued peering under the door, she watched as the cats ear twitched back and forth irritatingly. Elise cautiously opened the door, Rajah leaping out roaring threateningly at what was out in the hallway. "Miss Newton!" A voice called. Elise ran into the hallway, alerted as she saw one guard clinging to the wall, the other pinned under Rajah's large paws, her teeth baring as she growled at the man.

"Rajah!" Elise screamed. This caused the saber cat to rise up, still growling at the guard back behind her master. "What're you doing outside my room?" Elise questioned, petting her cats head. The two guards looked at each other before speaking up, "You better come with us."

"What do you mean she's in trouble?" Elise wondered, sitting across from her mentor and Vesper's mentor. The room was poorly lit, the only light was coming through was from the large windows that were behind the mentors.

Elise gave off a face of worry towards the two masters. "Last night we received an anonymous threat through the radio and it's about Vesper. Saying it's time for a new era to begin and it starts with her dying. We couldn't trace it." Her mentor, Serefina, spoke.

Serefina was young, in her early 30's with black hair tied up in a braided up-do. Her grey eyes filled with nothing but concern for her students counterpart, with every second she stared into Elise's eyes the more anxious she became.

"In this case the Unix would be in charge of the situation but in your current condition we figured it'd be better to call in the Nova Corps. I'm sorry, Elise." Helen, Vesper's mentor, explained. Helen was older, in her late 40's, with short grey hair and vibrant green eyes that reminded Elise of a Terran cat.

Elise's brows furrowed in confusion, she shifted in the wooden chair uncomfortably to change her posture from slouching to sitting straight up. "No it's fine. I understand why you need to bring in the Nova Corps but I can also help." Elise protested, leaning forward on the table. "I'm out of my wheelchair, I can go into the heavenly state, I'm fine, I'm healed." Serefina and Helen glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes.

Elise could sense their judgement from the other side of the room, she once again fidgeted in the chair. "Elise, you said you've been seeing visions of yourself though, like a darker entity of your younger self, and she's trying to kill you. We can't help but think that's a red flag in your safety and Vesper's as well. We think it's best you sit this out and let Nova deal with it." Serefina announced in a strangely calm but strict voice.

She narrowed her eyes at her students disappointed face. "Although you say you've recovered the physical part of your injury, it doesn't seem like you're done recuperating from the psychological damage Bageer has instilled in you." Helen explained, folding her hands on the top of the table. "Do you understand what we're trying to get at?" Helen clarified.

There was a long pause between the three of them as Elise glared at the table in frustration. She slouched back down with her arms crossed. "I understand." She sighed. She quickly shoved back her chair and exited the room even though Serefina protested her to stop.

Elise walked into the courtyard to find An old friend of hers, Walker, sitting alone on a bench, just staring at the ground. Elise gave a weak smile to the Nova Corpsmen, his hands running through his dark hair, then down his face skimming along his shortened beard. His piercing blue eyes were exhausted looking, he had traveled from Xandar to Minaria in just a day to make sure Elise and Vesper were ok. "Are you the first of them?" Elise wondered, startling Walker.

Walker immediately stood up and smiled at the Unix. He closed the distance between them and embraced her in a tight hug. "So you are ok. I haven't seen or heard from you in months." Walker exasperated squeezing Elise tighter. A feeling of remembrance crossed her mind, about their past relationship. She had convinced herself that she was over Walker but she wasn't sure on how well she had prepared herself for this. Elise mentally shook her head in disappointment and snapped out of her trance.

"I was in a bad place, but I'm out of it now." Elise explained breaking the hug even though she wanted it to last longer. "Love the new outfit by the way." She added teasingly, looking at his new Nova Corps uniform. "It took two weeks to come in. Two. Weeks." Walker groaned while pulling at the blue fabric with a sarcastic smile.

"Figured Alice would be with you." Elise mentioned half heartedly thinking of her sister whom she hadn't seen since her graduation. "She's out doing some sort of Eco-mission on Giana Prime." Walker informed her. "She's trying to discover new species of animals."

Elise snorted at the idea of her sister roaming around on a jungle planet trying to find as many animals as possible. "I thought she was a law enforcer, not a scientist." Elise scoffed walking towards the garden, Walker trailing behind her.

"She is. She's just providing background searches to see if the planet needs to be quarantine like Morag." Walker explained trying to catch up with Elise. "She's trying her best to make you proud." Walker added. This made Elise stop in her tracks.

Elise sucked in a deep breath before she slapped on a smile and turned to face Walker. "I understand," Elise stated. Walker could hear an angered edge to her tone. "Where's Percy? Is he here?" Walker looked confused by this charade of niceness all of a sudden. "Uh, yeah. He's in our room. I'll show you." Walker stammered, perking an eyebrow up at her actions. "Where's the rest of you?" Elise wondered as they started to walk from the courtyard to the house. "Rest of us?" Walker questioned, turning to look back at the inquisitive Unix.

The wind started to pick up, kicking up the dirt and debris. Pebbles, leaves, littered trash swarmed around and hit Walker and Elise who had blocked their faces with their hands. The sky turned dark, Elise shot her head upwards to see a large ship descending from above.

"Is this part of you guys?" Elise questioned turning back to Walker with an accomplished grin on her face. "Part of us? I don't understand. Who's us?" Walker was getting frustrated at this time. "Nova Corps." Elise replied as she watched the ship open up. "Nova? But we're not scheduled to come here. Percy and I came on our own." Walker explained approaching her slowly, Elise turned her head back and almost glared at the Nova Corpsman in disbelief. She didn't believe what he was saying, he was so far down on the Nova Corps chain that he probably didn't know they were coming. She turned back to watch five beings emerge from the ship.

One was a tall looking tree, it was carrying a raccoon...with a gun slung around its back. The other was a bulky dark teal man with red tattoos covering his body, no shirt to show off his impressive structure. There was a green woman, tall and slender with black hair and pink colored tips. Finally at the front of the group was a lean humanoid with a robotic face, it's glowing red eyes piercing into Elise's steely blue eyes. They stopped as they approached the Unix and the young Nova Corpsman.

"Who're you?" Elise asked, perking up an eyebrow and sticking out her bottom lip almost in a pout. Walker glanced towards the confused Unix. He didn't want her to start freaking over nothing once again, it could end badly…again. She always jumped straight into situations before even considering the consequences, he always had to watch after her.

The face of the first person seemed to dissolve, it's red, round eyes turning into the teal eyes of a Terran. Elise recognized him from Alice's graduation, the one who stopped the crowd from ridiculing her, but she wasn't sure if he was helping her sister out or trying to maintain his title of being a hero. "Please don't-" The green woman spoke but was interrupted by the Terran. "Star-lord." The Terran smirked coyly.

Elise squinted her eyes and placed her hand on her hip, waiting to hear more information about the stranger. Was that some kind of code name? If it's his real name that's a preposterous one. "Ooo…ok? I'm Elise, the Unix…Star-lord." Elise smirked and spoke to him indifferently.

The self-proclaimed Star-lord slowly slumped his shoulders before sighing out, "Peter Quill and the Guardians of the Galaxy." The raccoon scoffed and rolled his eyes at Peter's title. "You act as if we're sidekicks." He hissed, it climbed down the tree creature and pushed on Peter's leg. "You know damn well you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for us." The raccoon spat out at the Terran. Walker stared weirdly at the creature, was it talking? "So why are you here?" Elise asked impatiently crossing her arms, she didn't mind cutting the chase and getting to the point.

Peter opened his mouth to explain until Elise shortly cut him off. "I'm sorry for being so assertive but what's your business, we're expecting the Nova Corps at anytime now." The talking raccoon started to chortle hysterically. He was nudged my Peter's foot with him whispering his name, Rocket, in a low tone. "They didn't tell you?" Rocket questioned Elise.

"Nova Corps? No. What's wrong?" Elise wondered showing worry that something was going bad. "They sent us to protect you. Instead of showing up themselves." The green woman came forward pushing Peter and Rocket back. "We were told that the Purity needed to be protected. We took the opportunity to serve for you. Although we don't understand why you couldn't've done it on your own, we're quite confused." She explained also crossing her arms in question.

The woman was talking down to the young Unix, Elise could feel her anger broiling inside of her. The Nova Corps didn't even feel it was fit to actually send anyone here besides these people? And why was she the one being questioned? She could hear Walker take a sharp inhale when the green woman make that comment. Elise wanted to turn back to Walker and glare at him just for his line of work, the people he worked for didn't care.

Walker could see Elise's fidgeting with her fingers that she was becoming painfully irritated at the group, especially the comment about how she couldn't protect Vesper. "Long story." Elise hissed out. "Anymore questions?" She glared at the group, examining them all. A tree, a green woman, a bulky man wearing no shirt, a talking raccoon, and a Terran. What kind heroic defense team is this? And by what means do they have to question her?

The green woman returned the glare and opened her mouth to protest but Peter jumped in the way trying to bide Gamora some time to cool down. "No thank you. Gamora can get a little nosy, sorry." He pleaded for the green woman, who he sent behind him with his arm preventing her from coming forward.

"Hold on, Gamora? As in Thanos' daughter? You're a hero now?" Elise let out a low chuckle. "This has got to be some type of joke." She narrowed her eyes towards the the ground. "You're the people trying to take Vesper!" She accused, her hand glowing red before it ignited with fire. She drew a line of fire between Walker and herself and them.

Walker gave Elise a concerned, yet stern look. He didn't come all the way to Lightfield to watch Elise fight off Vesper's protection. "Elise." Walker scolded but the Unix ignored him to spite him. "Whoa! What the hell!" Peter exclaimed peering over at her above the scorching flames. "Haven't you heard the news lady? We're good guys now!" He shouted in their defense.

"Peter, it's obvious we're not wanted. Let's go. She can defend the Purity on her own." Gamora assured him with a pat on the shoulder before turning towards the ship. Elise burst through the wall of flame and grabbed Peter by the collar, she stared wary and enraged into his teal eyes. "I'm sorry. For the past year I've been broken by trying to save a whole race. Forgive me for not reading up on the news in Xandar." She spat out.

Peter looked into the girl's cold blue eyes, he could see the fear in his face in her eyes. He tried to hide it but he couldn't help it, the threat of her igniting him on fire at anytime kept him on edge. A whole race? That's when it hit him, she was the girl everyone hated at the Nova Corps graduation. "I know you." Was all he could say before something else caught Elise's attention. "Elise that's enough!" Helen's voice alarmed her from behind. Walker was relieved to watch as Serefina and Helen appeared from behind him to stop Elise and greet their guests.

"You drop him and put out these flames now." Helen demanded with a furious tone. Elise glared untrustingly into the man's eyes once more with anger before dropping him to the ground and turning to Helen and her mentor Serefina. She dowsed the flames down until they no longer existed and stepped over to her mentor.

Serefina looked down at Elise in disappointment, sending Elise inside with fury ignited in her and Walker trailing after her. "Sorry for my apprentice's behavior, she is very hot headed. She has much to learn for a Unix." Serefina apologized, holding out a gloved hand for Peter to take.

Peter took it without hesitation, hauling himself on to his feet. "I'll say." He grumbled. Serefina chuckled at his quip. "Vesper has always been the more spiritual out of the two. She understands the price of a life. Elise has always been able to recognize the physical traits of being a Unix. The woman picked up metal using and mastered it in about six months, I will give her props to that." Serefina chided, putting her hands behind her back formally.

"That's what happens when I get to train one and you get to train the other." Helen joked patting Serefina on the back and smiling when she gave her a side eyed look. "We appreciate you coming all the way to Lightfield to protect Vesper. I'm sorry we didn't tell Vesper or Elise you were coming instead of the Nova Corps." Helen made a sympathetic smile towards the group.

"Might've kept my head if ya did but…" Peter trailed off, brushing off his red coat. "But your head is still intact." Drax spoke in a confused tone. Peter rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips while pursing his lips. "It's an expression." Gamora whispered to the man. "Well then it is a bad one." He replied. "I am Groot." Groot agreed.

 _This is the most unorganized team I've ever seen_ , Helen thought while she kept her smile glued to her face. "Here why don't we show you to where you will be staying." Serefina suggested, her face still pasted with a blank expression as she motioned for them to step inside the house.

After the encounter with the Guardians Walker and Elise managed to make a b-line to their room. Elise was greeted by Percy bear hugging her and telling her to thank Serefina for their huge room. Elise looked around. It was big. Three beds, a little living room, one large mirror and even a little fridge. She was surprised to see that Percy had brought along Pici, a little hyper active ferret. She remembered when Percy had bought it back when they were teenagers. Elise began to reiterate the story of the run in with the Guardians, Percy started snickering at it.

"They're weird." Elise rolled her eyes at Percy, who was now hanging his head upside down from his bed. "So? Weird is awesome and awesome is… _awesome_." Percy chipped with a goofy smile. Seeing his huge grin made Elise smile a bit. Percy was tanned, with black hair like his brother. He had a chinstrap and emerald green eyes, Elise couldn't help to think of a younger brother.

"Oh Percy you sweet, sweet, innocent little bunny. You see the good in everything. It's a trait I wish I had." She admitted leaning down into the mini fridge to grab a juice. "You can have that trait," Walker chimed in, while turning the page of a newspaper, he sat with one leg crossed over the other in a blue chair. "You just have to relax." Elise and gave Walker a weird look the place one hand on her hip while using the juice to gesture to Walker.

"Pfft. You of all people are telling me to relax? Walker you walk with a stick up your butt 24/7, take your own advice." Elise scoffed while smirking towards the bearded man who sighed hastily and turned the newspaper again. "Yeah, Walk, since when do you relax?" Percy joined in on the teasing.

Pici chirped as he pounced on his owners stomach, forcing him to sit up and pet him. "Maybe you need a pet to relieve your stress." Percy poised as he held up Pici towards Walker. "A pet?" Walker perked an eyebrow up. "You mean something you have to feed, care for, and take care of?" He wondered.

"Yeah! Totally!" Percy exclaimed jumping off the bed and towards his brother. "Oh so you mean you two?" Walker smirked before hiding his face in the newspaper. Elise threw her juice bottle at Walker's face, hitting him square on the nose and making him yelp in pain. "Whoops. Slipped." Elise hummed out while winking at Walker. Her flirtatious look caused Walker to blush hard, embarrassed he buried his face in the newspaper. Even though they had split up she still had the attitude and quirks that made him fall for her. Hard.

"And this is where you'll be staying, Mr. Quill." Serefina's voice caught them all off guard as she opened the large wooden door and let herself and Peter inside. Peter noticed Elise first, he tried to smile fondly at her but she averted her eyes. Peter looked to the ground dishearteningly and flattened. Elise immediately rolled her eyes and sighed in disbelief. "Have fun." She whispered sarcastically to Walker.

Walker shrugged off Elise's comment, stood up and went over to Peter with and outstretched hand. "Walker Millit." He introduced himself, making strict eye contact with the Terran. He could feel Peter tensing up as he stared at him. "Peter Quill, people call me Star-Lord." Peter informed quickly, he had to assure himself that he was a "legendary outlaw" to invoke his self-confidence.

 _More like Star-Loser_ , Elise thought to herself and gave herself an audible low chuckle which caused Peter to glance over at her for a split second. He noticed that she had changed from her all black attire to grey spandex shorts that reached the middle of her thigh with an electric blue streak down the middle of the sides, and a pale navy blue zip up hoodie. He didn't want to admit that she was actually good looking, but she was young. But, then again when did that stop him?

He notice a man about his size in height and bulkiness came up from behind Walker. "I'm Percy, Walker's little brother. It's nice to meet you, Star-Lord." Percy beamed as he patted his brother on his shoulder. Little? He was bigger than Walker! Pici scrambled up Percy's torso to yip excitedly at the newcomer, he quickly jumped on over to Peter's shoulders making Peter give an uneasy look as he tried to shimmy the rodent off him.

"And that's my pet ferret Pici. He seems to like you!" Percy awed then picked the ferret off him. "Make yourself at home. I'm sure these three can show you were dinner is held when the time comes." Serefina vouched, placing an assuring hand on his shoulder. She gave him one last sympathetic look before she turned to her student.

Elise only looked over to her mentor for a split second before looking back down to the ground. "Elise." Serefina said sternly from across the room. "Yeah, yeah I'll be on my best behavior and show Star-Butt to the dining hall, yada, yada, yada." Elise reassured her mentor sarcastically, shoving her hands into her pockets.

Serefina frowned at this. She paced the room over to Elise and stood close to her. "Show some respect. He's here to protect you. He's basically risking his life to save yours." Serefina whispered in a deadly tone. Elise sighed and looked towards the ground again as her mentor left the room.

An awkward silence filled the room, Peter felt the tension growing between Elise and himself. "So," He started. "Which bed is mine?" He shifted his duffle bag from behind his shoulder into his hand. "Uh, I guess the last one. The one closest to the mirror." Walker smiled meekly and pointed to the very last bed.

It's blue sheets were nearly tucked in its sides unlike his and Percy's. Peter sauntered over to the edge of the bed, plopping his bag down with a thump. He could feel the daggers, Elise was throwing at him in her glare. He looked in the mirror and caught the gaze of the Unix as she cocked her head in question while she examined him. _Cute_.

He smirked at her in the mirror as he put on his headphones, she caught sight of his smirk and began to blush. Elise got too flattered that she began to glare and face the opposite way of him. "What are those?" Percy asked as he poked at the orange fluff of the headphones. "It's headphones. We used to use them on Terra to listen to music." He explained taking them off and showing them to Percy by placing them on his ears.

"Terra is a little out of date with technology so this is as close as we can get to ear pieces." Percy smiled, beginning to swag back and forth to the music that was playing. Peter made sure that he was listening to a good song so he chose "Come and Get Your Love" as Percy's first song. "This is awesome!" Percy shouted as he placed his hands over the headphones making the music louder as he began to dance to it.

"You've got a good taste in music, kid. Along with a nice mug and killer dance moves. I bet you get all the ladies." Peter praised, slinging an arm around Percy. "Oh, uh," Percy stammered as he took the headphones off. "There's no ladies. There's only one lady." He admitted with a light pink hue coming to his face. "Oooohhh. I see you're a natural then. What's her name?" Peter questioned. "M-Madelyn. She's my girlfriend." Percy confessed with a proud smile as he thought of her.

Elise stuck out her tongue and made gagging noises. "Ew. Are you talking about love?" Elise traded Percy with a smirk. "I bet you don't know the meaning of it." Peter challenged the Unix. Enraged, Elise stood up from the chair with clenched fists. "What was that, Quill?!" Elise shouted.

Peter threw up his hands in surrender. "It was a joke! A joke! Geez!" Peter exclaimed as he watched Elise close the distance between them to glare at him closer. "What do you have against me?" Peter demanded to know, becoming somewhat irritated with her attitude.

 _You're whole team is a joke_ , Elise thought but didn't say it. She kept remembering that Serefina did point out that they're risking their lives to protect Vesper's and possibly hers too if it came down to it. "This tough girl charade needs to end." His voice brought her back to reality. "There is no tough girl charade, it's just who I am." Elise defended herself.

"It's true. Being cranky is just in her nature." Percy noted from Peter's bed. "Percy." Walker warned from across the room. "And I have nothing against you," Elise announced grabbing Peter's attention once again. "I'm thankful your team is here. I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot." Lies.

She extended her hand expecting him to grab it. He cautiously took her small hand into his. Walker perked an eyebrow up at Elise's strange actions towards the Terran. She was one to never forgive and forget, well, immediately that is. "Come on. Let us show you around, I'm sure you got the formal tour but we'll show you the actual one." She suggested after the hand shake.

"You coming Walker?" Percy called out before they left the room. "No I'll leave it to the Unix." Walker replied. As they exited he noticed that Peter had been staring at the backside of Elise. Walker balled up his fists causing the paper in his hands to tear and crumple. _What a tool._


	3. A Royal Pain in My Ass

Vesper was in her room, writing down things in her journal. The green, floral walls creating a smaller space than what the room was. Latkia, her beardog, perked her ears up in question at her owner who responded by patting her head as she crossed the room to the large window.

She peered out her window looking towards all the pink hued flowers as they sun themselves. A bird with vivid blue colors hopped from flower to flower. Vesper struck interest in the small creature and began sketching the bird. She examined as its little wings beat faster than its body, she observed how it delicately flew from one flower to the next, hovering just above the petals.

Oh how she wish she could fly far away from Lightfield, from responsibility, from being the Purity but, she was stuck here under strict watch.

"Vesper," A voice called from the entrance of the room, startling the Purity, making her thick rimmed glasses fall a bit on her nose, Latkia began to growl at the voice. Vesper quickly turned around and sighed in relief as she looked into the eyes of Serefina.

"Ms. Serefina, it's good to see you." Vesper said with a small smile on her face as she fixated her glasses on her nose. She patted Latkia's head to reassure the beardog that she had nothing to worry about.

Vesper paced the room, Latkia following close behind her, she pulled out a chair and gestured for the teacher to sit down in it. "Please." Vesper cordially invited. Serefina eyed it then the beardog as she sauntered into the room to idly sit in it.

She had always been a little begrudging to the bubbly girl, nothing in sixteen years could probably change that. It was something about her attitude that just always irked Serefina, she was positive in almost every situation, including the Bageer incident.

Latkia didn't help either, Serefina was never good with large animals and couldn't stand the fact that both the Purity and the Unix owner such large animals. "Ms. Watts, there's something I need to discuss with you." Serefina addressed, wasting no time at all. The sooner the better.

Vesper sat herself down in the chair across from the mentor, folding one leg on top of the other, and placing her glasses on a side table. "I'm all ears." Vesper announced, smiling coyly. "We've seemed to retrieve an anonymous threat that was directed for you." Serefina gravely, stated as she glared at the young Purity. Vesper swore her heart stopped for at least five seconds, she froze immediately at this statement.

She shakily reached for her glasses on the table in which she had just put down and fumbled with them to get on her face. "Threat? As in how?" She questioned Serefina, anticipating the severity of it. "As in your life can be taken away from it." Serefina folded her hands under her chin, staring into the chocolate brown eyes of the Purity, who had become petrified and confused in only a couple of seconds.

"Elise-" Vesper started to say before Serefina interrupted, she knew she had always doubted her counterpart but not enough to worry. "Elise is in no condition to protect you, we've called in the Nova Corps who have provided us with the Guardians of the Galaxy."

Vesper moved uneasily in her chair, she didn't know how to take the life threatening news, if Serefina and Helen were both seeking protection outside of Minaria it was a large threat and they couldn't afford Elise to relapse and end up destroying everything. "Are they-"

"Good?" Serefina implied while perking an eyebrow in question. "Of course. They saved Xandar from that Kree loving Ronan. I'm without a doubt they will be able to help you." She lifted herself up from the chair, trying her best not to show her scowl at Vesper.

Vesper shortly followed her, walking her to the door. "You will be under strict lockdown. You're not leaving this mansion until the threat is demolished. Do I make myself clear?" Serefina ordered, placing her arms crossed behind her back.

Vesper hadn't earned the reputation of sneaking out but just because it hadn't happened yet doesn't mean it will. "Perfectly clear." Vesper whispered out, still petrified at this news, clinging to the door frame for support. Serefina eyed her before she turned to walk down the long hallway.

Vesper shut the door as the mentor left, she had never been the one threatened before or if she was it was not as serious as this. Vesper collapsed to the ground, her head between her knees, fingers intertwining in her deep brown hair. Latkia hovered nearby her making annoyed, nervous, dog whines as she watched her owner have a mental break down.

Vesper had finally had her wings clipped, even though she never left the Lightfield mansion without strict supervision she could feel that she wasn't going to have an ounce of freedom. The cabin fever has already started to set in, she felt as though her lungs were collapsing. What if this was all for naught? What if the threat succeeded in killing her and she never got to see the outside world again?

She wanted to cry, she could feel she needed to cry, but nothing came out. Instead she lay there, her back against a wall, hyperventilating as she thought about her impending doom. She stayed like this for several minutes until she was startled with a knocking at the door. Latkia became alert for a moment, becoming protective over her master.

"Ves, open up. I have someone for you to meet." Elise's voice sounded like she was forced to speak kindly about this so called person. Latkia barked and whines towards the door, recognizing Elise's familiar voice and sound calmed her.

Vesper calmed her rapid breathing and wiped her running nose. Quizzically Vesper opened the door to see Elise and Percy alongside with a tall, muscular man with a beard. "Oh my," Vesper whispered to herself as she stared at the man in awe.

Never had she seen a more handsome Terran man in her life. His chin was perfectly squared, eyes teal and alerted by the large beardog in the room with her. Vesper had thought she had seen the most attractive man back on Xandar but she was wrong.

She drifted back to reality when she felt Pici crawling up her side to say hello. The ferret leaned off her shoulder slightly to greet the enormous beardog that had began sniffing it. Giggling she pet the ferret before acknowledging her guests. "Hi Elise, what can I do you for?" Vesper questioned with a small, flirtatious, smile.

Elise could feel some sort of heat rise to her cheeks as she stared questioningly at her counterpart. Elise had a weird feeling about her smile, it was charming and alluring, it was usually meant for her most times. Following the young Purity's eyes she noticed that she was gazing towards the foolish Peter.

Elise scowled up at the Terran, he took her job of protecting Vesper and now he was getting all her attention. Elise could feel the jealousy broiling inside of her, the envy overtook her.

"Vesper, this is Peter the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy...I guess. He's going to protect you from whatever is out there...even though I probably could do it ten times faster..." Elise introduced but whispered the last part of her sentence to herself while crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

Before Vesper could outstretch her hand towards the Terran, Percy ran into the room and hugged her, lifting her up off the ground making a strange adoration noise. "It's good to see you, Percy." Vesper hummed out while running her fingers through his dark hair. "It's been too long." Percy replied with admiring eyes. Percy always had a little crush on Vesper but it didn't last long thanks to Madelyn, he still found her attractive though.

Vesper cleared her throat as she pushed away Percy, who became a little discouraged, to see the human. "It's nice to meet you, Peter. Thank you for protecting me." Vesper flirtatiously thanked the man while playing with her curly hair.

Peter's lips curled up into a coy smile as he locked eyes with the young Purity, he had picked up on her flirting. That was flirting right? "It's not a problem, miss." He commented before taking her slender hand in his and kissing the top of it.

Vesper began blushing feverishly, she let out a small giggle as she retracted her hand. Too furious to say anything Elise shoved her balled up fists her sweatshirt pockets and hastily stormed out of the room. "See ya at dinner, Vesper," Elise managed to blurt out. Percy, still looking discouraged but confused now, quickly followed Elise with Pici on his shoulders.

It wasn't until she was a quarter down the hallway that Elise had noticed that the "star-whore" had stayed behind to flirt and compliment Vesper. "Go ahead to the dining hall. Everyone should be there by now." She spoke to Percy in a light tone and a smile, Percy shrugged and kept walking.

She turned around sighing exasperated and irritated she marched into Vesper's room and grabbed Quill by his collar practically dragging him along. "Let's go." She growled.

"Unbelievable. She's at least ten years younger than you." She scolded Peter under her breath. "Should let your green friend get a hold of you. Should get Rajah get her paws on you. See what happens then."

Peter sighed as he listened to her threaten him under her breath. "Would you stop grumbling and mumbling, if you're at least going to threaten me spit it out already. This passive aggressive stuff is bothering me." Peter announced, in the next moment he being shoved up against the wall, his hands pinned at his sides.

"Can you at least try to be a little professional and not flirt with the person you're trying to protect?" Elise hissed through her teeth, glaring into his teal eyes.

Peter overtook her hands and flipped her so she was against the wall, his hands tightening on Elise's as she tried to squirm out. Peter grabbed both of her small wrists and pinned them up above her head, he then grabbed her cheeks so she could look directly in his eyes.

"I'm here to help both of you. I don't know how long it's going to take to protect you two but we're stayin' until it's taken care of. Now if you could stop throwing daggers in the back of my head every time I see you that'd be great." He let go of her cheeks but still continued to hold on to her tiny wrists. Elise looked towards the ground embarrassed at herself.

"If I let go are you gonna stop acting like a priss?" Peter questioned. "Excuse me!" Elise shouted, glaring towards the man. "I take that as a no. Listen we can stay like this all day, Princess,"

"Don't call me that."

"Or you could stop being a royal-"

"Watch it."

"A royal pain in my ass and act civil."

Elise glared at the man for a few moments before whipping her hands out from him using her air training to help her, the gust of wind knocked Peter back towards the other wall.

"Fine, I'll be civil with you, Quill," Elise stated while picking him up by the collar of his shirt with one hand, she let her other hand ignite on fire threatening to use it on him. "If you can prove to me that you're worthy of it."

With that she dropped the Terran on the carpeted ground with a thud, then sauntered off towards the dining hall. "Hurry. Or you'll lose your way in this mansion." She called back towards the groaning Peter.

"What's it with you and Vesper anyways, why don't you want me flirting with her?" Peter questioned as they continued their venture down the hallway.

"What?" Elise asked confused, giving Peter a stand offish look and a frown. "Well you two have gotta be best friends, don't you support each other with getting with the most desirable man in the galaxy?" Peter wondered, a cocky grin forming on his face as he asked the question. "You've got to be kidding me." Elise scowled at the thought of Peter being the most desirable man in the galaxy.

"No? Then what's it to you?" Peter kept questioning. "You got a crush on her or something?" He poked her shoulder as he asked this.

Elise hated touching.

Elise also hated the fact that he kept annoying her with questions about her relationship with Vesper. It's irrelevant.

She sparked a small fire towards him, non-threateningly but, enough to get her point across. "No more stupid questions." She said with a light blush, thinking about his last question.

"You're right that was stupid. But if you two ever do, can I-"

"No. Now come on the dining room is right around the corner."

She lead him to two large green doors with silver metallic intricate designs. She peered over at the Terran quizzically as he scanned the large door over and over again in utter astonishment.

Smirking, Elise pushed open the doors to the rather large dining room, there was a large table that had two sides jutting down to make more room at the table. In the center of the large table Helen was seated, she appeared to be in conversation with one of her kitchen servants, she didn't hesitate to smile at the staff, she had always been polite.

On her side her only daughter Madelyn sat conversing with her boyfriend Percy. Madelyn was tall and lanky, she could basically be a model, complete with olive toned skin and blue eyes. She easily was the most radiant person in the room, along with the smartest.

On the other side of Helen, sat Serefina. She appeared to be drinking some sort of alcohol in a grey gauntlet, her facial expression bored. Elise turned to the leader of the Guardians, still smirking as she watched him look around at everyone.

"Feel free to mingle. I see only a couple of your friends have made it down here." Elise gestured to Rocket and Groot who sat on left side of the table, they appeared to be bickering. Drax and Gamora had yet to show up, they must've gotten lost or were taking their time getting to the dining hall.

Elise smiled towards Madelyn as she watched the heiress make her way towards her. Peter watched as she embraced Elise tightly.

"It's so good to see you. A year is way too long." Madelyn boasted towards Elise as she continued to hug her. Madelyn, Elise, and Vesper had always been close friends ever since Elise and Vesper were forced to stay in the mansion.

Madelyn had always been the level headed out of the three. Elise heard Peter clear his throat from behind her, she looked into the blue eyes of Madelyn and rolled them as she turned around. She had an odd suspicion that he was going to try to flirt with her.

Madelyn had to stifle back a chuckle as she watched the Unix grab ahold of Peter and pulled him up towards them. "Madelyn. Peter. Peter. Madelyn." Elise rolled her eyes once more. She couldn't wait for this show, she leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her.

"Madelyn? As in Percy's Madelyn?" Peter wondered as he shook her hand delicately. "Yes that's actually him over there." Madelyn pointed at the bulky man sitting next to his brother Walker who instantly smiled and waved towards them.

Elise stared in adoration at the two, she had always longed for a longed for a brother. It had filled her with satisfaction as she gave a small wave to Percy as Peter nodded slowly towards him.

Madelyn nudged the Unix who jumped a little, Madelyn held onto her elbow reassuring that everything was alright and she was safe. "Would you like to sit down?" She questioned Elise with worry in her eyes.

Elise hesitantly, but softly, nodded towards her. "Yeah, um, yeah I'd like that." Elise stuttered as she bit down on her thumbnail.

Elise paced over to the metallic chair next to Serefina. Serefina eyed her out of the corner of her eye, it looked as if her student had been struggling to keep it together the whole day.

Elise placed her hood over her head, while laying her head down on her arms on the table, Elise shut her eyes for a moment. Her head throbbing against her arms, she felt a little nauseous, a little warm. It felt as though she had a fever but this came in for about an hour every day and then it would stop.

She wondered if it was the rest of what Bageer had put on her, she feared that it was slowly killing her.

There was a metallic sound, jarring Elise that made her alert. She looked around anxiously for a threat but what she saw that almost everyone had joined the table.

Vesper was sitting next to her chatting with a guard, Gamora and Drax had joined the opposite side of the table as Peter, Rocket, and Groot.

Elise looked towards the table and saw a small, metal sphere with glowing blue shards in it. "I brought that for you," Serefina said lowly, gesturing with her eyes at the metal. "It's kind of like a stress ball. It's a soft meteorite, very malleable. You can stretch it however you please."

Elise looked at it hesitantly, then took the cool metal in her hand. She relished in how cold it felt against her palm for a moment before she formed the meteorite into a diamond shape.

Happily she stared at it, she had toys like this when she was little, but this was more like an anxiety reliever. She began forming it into other things more freely, spikes, triangles, an arrow. "It works. It's perfect!" Elise stated ecstatic towards her mentor.

Peter examined the young Unix from across the table, watching her expression lighten up as she played with some sort of orb. "I wonder what her deal is." Rocket wondered as he stared at the Unix too.

"What do you mean?" Peter questioned, glancing at Rocket for a moment. "I wonder what's messed her up so bad that they require us to come help. I mean if she's as "powerful" as everyone says she is."

"I don't think she's messed up, I just think she's too stubborn-"

"Stubborn? She's the Unix. She seems trigger happy to get into a fight. She's messed up somehows and whatever can mess up a Unix that bad I want a hold of it." Rocket added a sly grin appearing on his face. "That's crazy talk, Rocket." Peter shook his head towards his discouraged partner.

He stared at the young Unix once more, smiling as she smiled happily down at metallic material. "What? You don't believe me, eh?" Rocket questioned offendedly.

Peter waved his hand at the raccoon annoyed, he kept studying the Minarian from across the way. "No I believe you about her being messed up, what I don't believe is that someone would that stupid to give you something that powerful." Peter explained with a smirk.

"Who said they would give it to me?" Rocket retorted. "I am Groot." Groot blurted out making Peter jump, he had forgotten the nine foot tree was there. "Yeah but you're almost saint like." Rocket replied to Groot shrugging his comment, whatever it was, off. "Well whatever it was, it has her shaken up pretty good." Peter examined the Unix's body language from afar.

She looked somewhat relax but the way that her eyes looked, the way her movements were, she was tense and poised. "Wonder what Drax and Gamora were doing." Rocket chattered, he noted Peter wasn't paying attention and instead turned to talk to Groot about it.

Peter's eyes lingered over to the Purity now. He admired how she was still in an engaging conversation with a guard, she looked so passionate about whatever she was talking about.

Peter couldn't help but think that she was beautiful, and she was far kinder than her counterpart. She seemed compassionate and understanding, something Peter couldn't really find in the galaxy.

A large plate was sat down in front of Elise, it was a brightly colored fish with green garnishes around it. "I had the cooks prepare the most common dish you'll find in Minaria." Helen mentioned as she watched Gamora dig into the side of the fish, trying to eat it properly even though it was rather difficult to eat this fish.

Helen giggled at her attempts to eat it. "If you grab the special tool to the right on your napkin you'll find that it helps crushes the scales. This is a Golle. The entire fish is covered with armored scales, the goal is to use that knife to get in under the scales and eat the flesh." Helen instructed her guests as the rest began mowing down on their food.

"Now if you wouldn't mind I'd like to talk business, with all of you." She patted her lips with her napkin and then placed it back in her lap. Serefina straightened her back up and wiped her mouth also, clearing her throat as she placed the napkin on the table. "We're very grateful you have journeyed here to watch over Vesper. We do take note that you are missing out on work for this-"

"Hell yeah we are!"

"So we intend to pay you each a sum of 50,000 units each." Helen gestured towards the Guardians and Walker and Percy. "Ma'am you don't need to pay us." Walker gestured to him and Percy. "We decided to come on our own, we don't expect payments." Walker informed the Instructor. "Don't be so modest, Walk," Vesper insisted. "Yeah I mean if you don't want money, there's other forms of payment." Elise teased the Nova Corpsman forcing his face to turn red.

"If you don't wish to accept the payment then by all means that's fine. It's just a token of out gratitude for you, Walker." Helen informed the brothers, Walker sat back in his chair a little more relaxed now. Walker glanced over to Elise, she had only began to poke at her food.

"But as for you five, I think 50,000 should be a generous amount, wouldn't you agree?" Helen offered staring directly over at Gamora. "Yes, that is a gracious amount, more than enough for each." Gamora quipped as she set her fork down on the napkin beside her plate.

Peter looked anxiously over at Elise, he wondered what form of payment she was talking about and if it could be made available to him. He snapped out of his thoughts when the Unix made eye contact with him giving him a glare of disapproval.

"It could be more." Rocket whispered under his breath, causing Peter to elbow him. "I completely agree. Thank you, Helen for your generosity. We promise to protect you two young ladies since you can't protect yourselves." Peter sympathized, earning a confused look from Elise.

What was he up to? He went from badass womanizer to being a kind gentleman to the next. Hold on wait was he being serious? Did he just insult Elise by saying she can't handle herself to protect her and Vesper? Either this guys has a bunch of issues or he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

Elise sighed and leaned on her elbow, she still didn't trust him. She glanced over to Vesper, who was making googly eyes over at the self proclaimed Star-Lord. She rolled her eyes at her counterpart, she couldn't believe that she was falling for his nice guy act.

Elise took the time to shove the plate in front of her towards the edge of the table, Serefina looking questioningly at her. "Not hungry." She grumbled out, crossing her arms and slouching down in her chair with her hood back over her head.

She took the meteorite out of her pocket and began forming them into sharp objects, as she thought of Peter and Vesper ever having a fling. "Elise, you can be excused from dinner." Serefina hissed at her young student as she looked up at her with confusion.

This sudden outburst drew the attention of everyone. She waited a moment for everyone to go back to their conversations while eating. She leaned over to her student who was now eyeballing the leader of the Guardians with a confusion.

"I will meet you out in the courtyard. It's time to show Mr. Quill what you're made of." Serefina whispered towards her. Elise slowly leaned up with a curious smile lingering on her lips. "Are you serious?" Her voice sounded like she was trying to hold back her excitement.

Serefina gave her student a side eye and nodded her head once. "Go get warmed up. I'll bring everyone after dinner." With that Elise shoved back her chair with a metallic squeak, heading towards the door. Finally, she could show them once and for all she wasn't useless.

Gamora shot a questionable glance across the table at Peter, who innocently shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what Elise's problem towards him was but, he obviously had gone too far somewhere along the lines. He just didn't know where.

"Serefina." Helen whisper-yelled. Serefina looked over at Helen who was oddly displaying a smile on her face even though her voice was dripping with anger. "What are you doing?" She demanded to know. Serefina took a sip of her drink while shrugging her shoulders.

"Showing them what my pupil is made of." She chided. Helen wanted to turn red with anger. Why? "But, we don't know what could happen in Elise's current state. She could regress. What is going to happen if Elise snaps in the middle of the match?" Helen wondered, her eyes displaying worry now. Her face had gone sorrow.

Once again, Serefina shrugged her shoulders. "Let's hope she'll lash out in a good way."

One. Two. Kick. Elise mentally laid out what she was going to prove without using any of her powers, she wanted Peter to be frightened and awed by her performance. She was not weak. She was powerful. Some would say the most powerful being on this side of the universe.

Elise stopped in her tracks abruptly, looking up at the stars. But, if she was the most powerful being, why did she feel so helpless?

A collective chatter was heard from behind her. She turned to see that Serefina was approaching her with her friends, and the Guardians. Serefina gave her pupil a mischievous grin which Elise returned. "Miss Newton." Serefina called out to her. "You look like you've been training. For what purpose?" Serefina asked, lying.

Elise looked around at the red tarp that was used as a sparring area, she shrugged her shoulders as she looked back to her teacher. "It's just...what I do." Elise nonchalantly stated.

Walker narrowed his eyes at her. What was she up to? He had never seen her act anxious like this before. She was being played.

"Are you having a good night, guests?" Elise questioned. Peter scoffing at her as she bowed towards them. "I suppose." Gamora spoke for the group, also giving her a questionable gaze. She was unsure whether she was going to attack them or not. Whatever it was made her feel uneasy. She put herself on guard.

Serefina paced in front of the group. "In the act of fire using, you must know that it is not an inanimate object like the other elements. Fire is alive, fire breathes with air, fire can destroy if needed. In this exercise, Elise I would like you to demonstrate the fire using power to the Guardians while sparring with the guards." Serefina instructed Elise.

Elise watched as three guards came out on to the sparring yard, armored and ready to fight. The young Unix cracked her neck from side to side, then stretched her arms out before crouching down into a fighting position.

Serefina surveyed the courtyard, she watched her students insightful eyes target the three men that had hunkered down to fight. "Begin."

The first guard attacked with a large burst of fire, engulfing what seemed to be Elise whole until Elise moved her arms as if she were cutting into the flames causing them to dissipate. She kicked upwards twice using fire, knocking a man down on his rear.

The other two guards once again tried to engulf Elise in a flame ball, this time Elise waved her arms in a circular motion making the flames wither out around her.

She smirked coyly, as she hunkered down again, her fists in tight balls at the front of her chest. One guard sent a flare her way, she narrowly dodged it then punched another one before running towards the guard.

The guard ran towards her before jumping in the air in front of her, hoping to scorch her from below but, Elise was ready for that. She kicked his foot in midair, causing him to skid to the ground.

The last guard threw a large flame at her, which she managed to block as the guard that fell came up from behind her forcing her to kick him in the gut while beaming the other guard with a blast of fire.

The two guards both got up, blasting fire at Elise in the middle. She held it off for as long as she could before turning to the guard closest to Serefina and the others and blasting him with a large ball of fire, sending him flying up towards the roof of a gazebo.

"She's good." Rocket hummed out. "There's a little pee coming out of me right now." Peter awed at the young Unix who was now holding back a fire strike.

She held out both hands running through the fire diving in head first. She thought she was going to make it until she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Bageer lunging at her.

She staggered backwards, violently throwing random blast of fire into the air. Vesper saw her distress, rising from her seat to stare at her with pleading but worried eyes. "Elise!" Vesper shouted, as she watched Elise flail about, striking towards the air with random bursts of fire.

Vesper jumped into the courtyard towards Elise, as a guard sent out a blast of fire towards her to finish the spar. Vesper held up her hands, using the water around her to mesh with the fire causing it to go out. She glanced down at Elise who was still laying on the ground covering her head with a pained expression on her face.

As the mist went away she glared up at the guards, an icy look on her face. "That's enough. This match it over." Vesper called out in a deadly tone towards the guard before running over and grabbing Elise off the ground. Elise pushed herself out of Vesper's arms, holding her head to steady herself.

Serefina made her way down to the tarp to check up on her pupil. "What were you thinking, Serefina?" Vesper spat out at the mentor, Serefina taking a step back in confusion. This was not the first time Vesper had asked this or acted out against her authority.

"I know having the Guardians here and having to pay them is infuriating you, and seeing Elise not be able to handle it herself is killing your "master" ego right now but, please, please think of your students safety." Vesper lectured the mentor, waving a finger up at her. Elise pushed away from the Purity. She coddled her arm as she walked behind Vesper.

She was ashamed that Vesper was doing this for her but at the same time she was glad. She didn't see Bageer anymore because of Vesper but, what the hell was she doing?

"We all know she can't protect me, let's stop pretending, so why? Why are you willing to endanger her for me?" She turned between Elise and Serefina, angrily, her fists balled up to her sides.

She couldn't take being the damsel in distress anymore, always having someone to protect her. Elise was always getting in the line of danger when it came to protect her and she hated seeing her get hurt. She didn't want to hurt anybody anymore.

"And you!" She directed her attention towards Elise, who didn't know what to do but look at her in question. "Why do you keep putting yourself in danger?!" Vesper's eyes filled with concerned tears, she shook her head from side to side, trying to rid of them.

She blinked several times, before rubbing her eyes as she finally got rid of them. "We get it. You're tough. But please stop over exerting yourself. And stop babying me! I'm twenty three, I can handle myself too!"

Elise stared at her with wide eyes, full of shock. She had always thought her job was to protect Vesper, it's what she's been told her whole life and now Vesper didn't want her to protect her? She felt as if she amounted to nothing, she was less than dirt.

Elise's eyes filled with desperation, still coddling her injured arm, Vesper glaring down at her. She could feel her frown become more prominent across her face, the tears in her eyes began to sting. "Elise wait-" Vesper huffed out as Elise turned and ran the other way. "Elise!" Walker shouted after her, jumping down next to Vesper.

Vesper watched as Elise ran off, forcing herself over the wall of the mansion to the outside city of Lightfield, feeling almost guilty. Serefina turned to the guards that surrounded the courtyard, furious at her pupil and herself but she couldn't help feeling searing pang of hatred towards Vesper.

"Call the rest of the guards. Go into Lightfield. Find the Unix at all costs and bring her back to me." She barked at a guard, her fists shaking wildly, she couldn't believe Elise would put herself in this kind of situation.

A hand was placed on Serefina's shoulder, somewhat startling her. She turned to face the teal eyes of Peter, a smirk placed upon his lips. "Don't worry, I can find her." He challenged the mentor, who glared at him in return.

She shoved his hand off her shoulder, pursing her lips into a frown as she furrowed her brows towards the Terran. "That is my personal pupil. If any harm comes to her, let it be known it's on your head." Serefina whispered in a low, threatening tone.

Peter swallowed the lump in his throat as he gazed into her irritated eyes. "You got it." He muttered, clicking the ear piece, letting the mask form over his face. The bright red lights over his eyes startled Serefina, causing her to growl at him.

 _Sheesh everyone's here is moody_ , he thought.

He turned towards Gamora who stared at him with curious eyes. "You're in charge while I'm gone." He stated before bending down to turn on his rocket boots, soaring through the night sky and outside of the wall. Rocket approached Gamora, scowling with his arms crossed. "Why do you get to be in charge?" He growled.


	4. A Game of Hide and Seek

Peter searched the crowded streets of Lightfield, passing over the merchants market, it seemed to be a natural calling place for someone to hide. He lightly smiled at the fact Minaria's most powerful being has cabin fever. He found it rather human like, to make an error like that.

The swish of a cloth caught his attention downwards towards the street. A woman wearing a hooded scarf like drape around herself was glaring up at him with the piercing blue eyes that he recognized as Elise. She was terrible at hiding.

He hovered down to the ground next to a fruit stand, turning off his boots and mask as he was five feet from the ground. "Elise what're you doing?" He questioned the girl who had her head wrapped up in a scarf.

Elise rolled her eyes, of course he's somehow found her, and out of all the places in Minaria. Thankfully she was devising an escape route in her head as she mentally prepared herself to face the Guardian. She took a bite of an exotic fruit as she turned to face Peter.

"What do you want, Terran?" Her voice was thick with boredom, she placed a hand on her hip impatiently. Peter gazed at the Unix's new outfit. She still had the same grey and blue shorts on but her top was now just a black sports bra with the scarf wrapped around her upper body, including her head.

She could feel his eyes scanning her entire body, her cheeks turning red as his eyes fixated on the bandeau. Elise felt like she was only a piece of meat to him and she couldn't see what Vesper saw in the womanizer.

Peter cleared his throat, rocking back on his heels, before looking at her in the eyes. "I'm here to take you back." He answered, smiling halfway through his sentence as she gave off a weird look. Elise threw her head back in a maniacal laughter, pitting the Terran who challenged her. How was he her captor? He was weak. "What makes you think I'll go back willingly?" She questioned, readying herself to run.

Peter saw her actions, her stance stiffened, he copied her stance, his face turned stern yet calming to keep the effect that he didn't want to fight but, if he had to he would. "You don't have to come back willingly. You just have to-" Peter didn't even finish his sentence before Elise took off running.

Peter groaned as he took off. He ran along behind her, trying to keep at pace with her as she ran threw the busy street. He turned his mask back on to chase her, he bumped into several different merchants as he kept his eyes locked on Elise.

There was now a large gap between the two, Elise kept looking over her shoulder towards Peter who was surely catching up with her. She resorted to using her powers to get out of his reach, she didn't want to go back just yet.

She had never been out of the mansion without any supervision, she wasn't sure if she wanted to head back at all, even with the threat lingering around.

She didn't know if she could go back. To face Vesper after disappointing her. She must've been a disappointment to all. Her duty was to protect Minaria but, she couldn't even defend herself in a small sparring match.

She looked over her shoulder to see Peter right behind her. She had to lose him. She leapt up into the air, lifting up a wall of earth to divide him and her. Peter skittered a little thinking of how he would get out it but his pace didn't slow down. "Are you god damn kidding me?" He glowered.

He was determined to get her back to the mansion. He jumped up, using his rocket blasters to lift him up over the wall, he was sure that he was going to catch her. He landed on his feet with a thump, peering from side to side through the crowd of curious people who had gathered to see what was going on.

Dammit. Peter sighed as he clicked the button on his mask off, gritting his teeth in anger. Why would she just run off like that? He got that she needed some fresh air and that with everyone doubting her she wouldn't want to return but, it was her job as the Unix. Why couldn't she just accept that? Peter sighed and placed a hand on his hip in irritation.

This little game that they were playing was really getting old. "Aw man did she change outfits again?" He questioned aloud, slumping his shoulders. He found it unbelievable that she could change so fast, she was toying with him and it was making him look like a fool and lose his cool.

"What're you looking at? Mind your own business people!" He shouted to the crowd surrounding him and giving him questionable looks. With annoyed and disappointed grumbled the crowd vanished, shunning the Terran and leaving him with his peace of mind. Well, his mind would be more peaceful if he just found the Unix.

Peter bit his bottom lip and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration before he started to cautiously walk through the street. "Excuse me ma'am?" He called over to a small older woman who was sweeping her front porch.

As he ran over to her she put up her broom in defense, a scowl strewn across her face. "What do you want?" She asked bitterly, glaring at the Terran. Peter perked an eyebrow up at her in question before placing his hands in his pockets, a smug smirk spread across his face.

He was great with swooning older women. "Pardon me, young lady," He began to flirt effortlessly. "I'm looking for a girl-"

"Aren't we all."

Peter seemed a bit taken back by the harshness of the old woman and forced back a smartass remark before planting another grin on his face. "I mean I'm actually looking for someone. A girl with a brown cloth over her head and shoulders? Did she happen to run past here, my dear?" He asked, his cheeks beginning to twitch with irritation as they began to hurt.

The old woman placed both hands on her hips with an immediate and ever growing frown on her face. "You mean the hood rat that barged through my porch like she was on fire?" She asked aggressively, her brows furrowing as she glared at the Terran.

Peter snapped his fingers, leaning back a bit with a beaming smile. "That's the one!" He exhilarated causing the old woman to glower at his presence. "She went down the alley over there. Don't know where she went from there but that's not my problem." She informed, pointing to the large alleyway a couple shops away from her.

A coy smile pooled on his lips as his eyebrows furrowed in determination before darting off leaving the old woman feeling ungrateful. Peter skittered in the brown gravel as he approached the entrance of the alley heedfully looking around.

He didn't like the setting at all, this looked like a place where someone could get mugged or worse. "Jeez I thought Lightfield was all nice." Peter mumbled to himself as he began to walk down the alley. He gingerly took out his gun as he ventured further in, becoming out of sight of the bustling market.

"Elise?" He beckoned, his voice echoing off the sides of the walls. "Elise I know you're in here, so just...come on out." He frustratedly called out. There was a loud metallic thump that came from the balcony above him, causing him to jump in surprise.

Peter gazed up at the balcony only to be greeted by Elise's smirking face. "Oh come on," She moaned out teasingly. "I don't give up that easily." Peter frowned at her unfair advantage, she was at least fifteen feet above him, how could he catch her? "Elise, I'm tired of playing this little of game of hide and seek." He breathed out in agitation as she chuckled darkly at him.

"Game? I didn't know this was a game." She coyly smirked down at him, resting her chin on her hand as she leaned over the side. Was she trying to be playful right now? Or was she trying to be a pain in the ass?

Peter lightly smirked up at her, as she started to play with her scarf. "Are you going to come ba-" Before he could finish his eyes were covered by the brown scarf Elise had on. He ripped it off his face, clutching it frustratedly in hand.

"Son of a bitch!" Peter cursed as he watched her disappear into the window a few balconies up from where she last was. Why couldn't she be normal and come back willingly? Everything has always been a chase so far. He pressed the button to his boots, causing himself to propel up to the balcony where she was at.

He hurdled his way through the window, startling a few women who seemed already shaken up from Elise running through already. "Which way!" He shouted at the still frightened women.

One of them pointed towards the window across from them, it had been opened, the curtains flowing out of it from the breeze. He ran towards it, jumping on the little table in front of it before jumping out and throwing on his rocket boots.

Peter found her jumping on top of the rooftop of the building across the way. "Elise!" Peter shouted. Elise halted in her tracks watching the Terran struggle out on to the balcony. Elise huffed out a sigh, exasperatingly slapping her arms against her sides. "Can't you just give up?" She shouted provokingly.

Peter's eyes narrowed at her through the mask. "Can't you just come back to the mansion?" He retorted, crouching at getting ready to jump over to the rooftop. "I can't." Elise's voice cracked.

He noticed this, he also noticed her body tense up again "Don't move." Peter stated as he readied his boots to jump across. It was too late, Elise was already jumping off of the building.

Peter scowled before flying after. Stupid overpowered brat. He just wanted to help. He flew over several rooftops, trying to catch up with the Unix. Finally he flew over to one to find her sitting on the side of it gazing at the setting sun. "Hiding are we?" Peter analyzed to himself before swooping down to the roof.

Peter latched on to her wrist, she quickly snapped it away from him while letting out a sigh. His presence didn't seem to startle her or phase her at all which made him question what was wrong with her. It was like she had just given up.

"You're not even going to run?" He questioned before Elise violently shushed him. "I'm tired." She responded after a moment. So the Unix did have a weakness. He looked down at her in question. "What are you doing?" He whispered as he sat down on the roof beside her.

Elise met his eyes for only a quick moment. "Watching the sunset." She answered. Peter's brows rose at the answer. It was one of the first times she wasn't snarky. He looked out in the distance, watching the sunset as well. The hues of pink and blue were beautiful. "I didn't know you were a sucker for sunsets." He teased earning a scoff from her.

He smirked. "I can't even tell you the last time I actually watched a sunset." Her eyes lingered over to him for a moment. She noticed how relaxed he looked even after he spent a while trying to find her. As he glanced over at her she pried her eyes off him, returning to look at the sunset.

"Why don't you want to go back?" He stated the obvious, she was clearly running from something. Elise shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "It's a long story." She answered.

She leaned her head into her hands as she watched the sunset. "In short terms I messed up big time." She squeezed her eyes shut only to see the image of Vesper being mad at her greet her. She felt embarrassment rise up inside of her.

"How?" He questioned, wanting to delve further. It took Elise a moment to find the right words to the situation. "I've disappointed a lot of people. I am a reincarnation of a rich line of people who did fantastic things. People who were loved, people who were respected." She paused for a moment.

"I have spent my whole life locked up in that mansion, only to explore the outside world on various important occasions. I've spent my whole life dedicated to protecting this world, and the universe, and Vesper. But I can't seem to do the one thing people expect me to do, the one thing I was made to do because of..." Her voice trailed off thinking about Bageer.

Even the mention of his name was enough to put her out for a week. It was traumatizing. "I want to do my job. That's all. But I can't when everyone in the mansion thinks I can't." Peter looked over at the Unix who had begun to have tears swell up in her eyes.

He hesitantly patted her back a couple times, trying to ease her. It was starting to make sense now. Why her attitude was so awful towards them. "So us showing up added insult to injury, huh?" He exclaimed.

Elise composed herself to nod her head a couple times. "I'm sorry. If I've been a "royal pain in your ass"," She quoted causing him to chuckle a bit. "But, when I'm reminded that I can't do the one thing I was chosen for it's really upsetting." Peter made a scoffing sound making Elise to look at him in distress but, as she whipped her head towards him he had a smile on his face.

"Well then, let's do something about this." He stated, causing Elise's brow to rise. "Let's not look at it as use just protecting you and Vesper. Think of it as teaming up with us. You'd actually make a really good addition." Elise shot a confused look towards him.

He stammered as he tried to get the right wording. "You don't have to just sit back and watch us fight and watch us figure out what's going on. You can be a part of it. I won't tell Serefina if you don't." He explained with a smirk and a wink. He pointed to her with finger guns, as she rolled her eyes.

Being back in action and helping them would be better than just sitting around and being doted on. "I can do that." She smiled genuinely for the first time at him. He returned it, admiring how she looked with a toothy grin on her face instead of a constant scowl.

"Thanks for opening up to me." He said. Elise sighed as she turned to face Peter who's arms were crossed and a quirky grin spread across his face. "Softy." He whispered to her, forcing her to roll her eyes.

Elise groaned as she looked towards the ground, twiddling her thumbs. "You know you're gutsy as hell. Chasing me like that. It says a lot about you." Elise admitted even though her face seemed a bit annoyed as she stated it.

Was that a compliment? Peter beamed at her, she was an even bigger softy than what he thought. She returned his beam with a small, frail smile which sent his blood rushing through his body in newfound attraction. Quite possibly his new weakness for her. "You're going to be a great Unix. Are you ready to go home?" He asked sheepishly once again.

Elise squinted her eyes as if she was thinking sending Peter into panic mode. The sun was down and if she was going to give him a run for his money once again he wouldn't know how to find her in the dark. "You're not so bad, Quill. I'll go home." Elise obliged, letting Peter slump his shoulders in relaxation as she chuckled at his overreaction. "I suppose you wouldn't know a short cut home?" He questioned, smirking at the Unix as they walked the merchant street together. "Nope." She answered playfully, returning the smirk.


End file.
